Rehabilitating a Brigham Executive 604 Large Billiard with a Seized Stem

I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that Brigham offered the ever-popular Straight Billiard shape in several sizes and considered them from the start as separate product offerings rather than variations on a theme. Thus there are three shape numbers for a Brigham Billiard – 02 for a small pipe , 03 for a medium pipe, and 04 for a large pipe.

The pipe on the table today is the largest of the shapes listed above, the 04 Large Straight Billiard, and it certainly lives up to the designation. As a rough size reference, Brigham’s 02 Billiard shares the same stummel dimensions as my Dunhill Group 3 Shell Briar; Shape 03 approximates a Dunhill Group 4, and the 04 Large Billard is a big one, at a Group 6.

This old billiard is an impressive handful of briar, even in the rather rough state in which it arrived for refurbishment. As…